An intermittent gray column composed of water vapor and solfataric gases was observed for 3 hours on the evening of 14 November 1993. A similar, but less intense column was witnessed on 16 November by observers at the Servicio Agrícola Ganadero (Farm Service Office) and the local police station in Maricunga, 30 km from the volcano.

Information is preliminary and subject to change. All times are local (unless otherwise noted)

An intermittent gray column composed of water vapor and solfataric gases was observed for 3 hours on the evening of 14 November 1993. A similar, but less intense column was witnessed on 16 November by observers at the Servicio Agrícola Ganadero (Farm Service Office) and the local police station in Maricunga, 30 km from the volcano.

This compilation of synonyms and subsidiary features may not be comprehensive. Features are organized into four major categories: Cones, Craters, Domes, and Thermal Features. Synonyms of features appear indented below the primary name. In some cases additional feature type, elevation, or location details are provided.

Synonyms

Ojo del Salado

Cones

Feature Name

Feature Type

Elevation

Latitude

Longitude

Muerto, Volcán el

Stratovolcano

6789 m

27° 4' 0" S

68° 30' 0" W

Basic Data

Volcano Number

Last Known Eruption

Elevation

LatitudeLongitude

355130

750 CE

6879 m / 22563 ft

27.109°S
68.541°W

Volcano Types

Stratovolcano
Caldera
Lava dome(s)
Pyroclastic cone(s)

Rock Types

MajorDacite
Andesite / Basaltic Andesite
Rhyolite

Tectonic Setting

Subduction zoneContinental crust (> 25 km)

Population

Within 5 kmWithin 10 kmWithin 30 kmWithin 100 km

0
11
572
10,774

Geological Summary

The world's highest active volcano, Nevados Ojos del Salado, rises to 6,879 m along the Chile-Argentina border. The volcano lies about 20 km south of the road that crosses the international border at Paso de San Francisco. The summit complex, which is elongated in a NE-SW direction and overlies a largely buried caldera, contains numerous craters, pyroclastic cones and andesitic-to-rhyolitic lava domes and has been the source of Holocene lava flows. A major rhyodacitic explosive eruption about 1000-1500 years ago produced pumiceous pyroclastic flows. The most recent eruptive activity appears to have originated along a NNE-trending rift along the summit complex. It involved formation of a thick, viscous lava flow and at least a dozen small cones, lava domes, and explosion craters. No confirmed historical eruptions have been recorded, but the volcano has displayed persistent fumarolic activity, and there was an unconfirmed report of minor gas-and-ash emission in 1993.

References

The following references have all been used during the compilation of data for this volcano, it is not a comprehensive bibliography.

Deformation History

There is no Deformation History data available for Nevados Ojos del Salado.

Emission History

There is no Emissions History data available for Nevados Ojos del Salado.

Photo Gallery

Dacitic pumice from Holocene eruptions of Nevados Ojos del Salado volcano lines the shores of Laguna Verde, NNE of the volcano. The lake lies near the Chile-Argentina border, between Mulas Muertas and Falso Azufre volcanoes.

Photo by Oscar González-Ferrán (University of Chile).

The dacitic volcanic complex of El Muerto abuts Nevados Ojos del Salado volcano on the east and NE. The summit of this massive complex contains dacitic lava domes and is cut by a 2.5-km-long depression containing a dozen eruptive centers; an additional two dozen centers lie outside the depression. Lava flows from these centers cover an area of 120 sq km. The summit lava domes are of Pleistocene age, but the complex is cut by ENE-trending fractures that formed during Holocene eruptions of Ojos del Salado.

Photo by Oscar González-Ferrán (University of Chile).

The NW side of Nevados Ojos del Salado volcano rises above Pliocene ignimbrites and pyroclastic deposits of the Barranca Blanca. These deposits are overlain by dacitic pyroclastic-flow deposits from Ojos del Salado. A break in slope about half way up the volcano is the rim of a somma, inside which the modern edifice was constructed. Dacitic lava flows from the summit cone periodically overtopped the somma rim.

Photo by Oscar González-Ferrán (University of Chile).

The world's highest Holocene volcano, Nevados Ojos del Salado, rises to 6887 m along the border between Chile and Argentina. The summit complex, which is elongated in a NE-SW direction, is seen here from the NW. The massive volcanic complex contains numerous craters, cones, and andesitic and dacitic lava domes. No historical eruptions have been recorded, but the volcano is fumarolically active.

Photo by Oscar González-Ferrán (University of Chile).

Smithsonian Sample Collections Database

Affiliated Sites

The DECADE portal, still in the developmental stage, serves as an example of the proposed interoperability between The Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program, the MAGA Database, and the EarthChem Geochemical Portal. The Deep Earth Carbon Degassing (DECADE) initiative seeks to use new and established technologies to determine accurate global fluxes of volcanic CO2 to the atmosphere, but installing CO2 monitoring networks on 20 of the world's 150 most actively degassing volcanoes. The group uses related laboratory-based studies (direct gas sampling and analysis, melt inclusions) to provide new data for direct degassing of deep earth carbon to the atmosphere.

WOVOdat is a database of volcanic unrest; instrumentally and visually recorded changes in seismicity, ground deformation, gas emission, and other parameters from their normal baselines. It is sponsored by the World Organization of Volcano Observatories (WOVO) and presently hosted at the Earth Observatory of Singapore.

Middle InfraRed Observation of Volcanic Activity (MIROVA) is a near real time volcanic hot-spot detection system based on the analysis of MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) data. In particular, MIROVA uses the Middle InfraRed Radiation (MIR), measured over target volcanoes, in order to detect, locate and measure the heat radiation sourced from volcanic activity.

Using infrared satellite Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data, scientists at the Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawai'i, developed an automated system called MODVOLC to map thermal hot-spots in near real time. For each MODIS image, the algorithm automatically scans each 1 km pixel within it to check for high-temperature hot-spots. When one is found the date, time, location, and intensity are recorded. MODIS looks at every square km of the Earth every 48 hours, once during the day and once during the night, and the presence of two MODIS sensors in space allows at least four hot-spot observations every two days. Each day updated global maps are compiled to display the locations of all hot spots detected in the previous 24 hours. There is a drop-down list with volcano names which allow users to 'zoom-in' and examine the distribution of hot-spots at a variety of spatial scales.

EarthChem develops and maintains databases, software, and services that support the preservation, discovery, access and analysis of geochemical data, and facilitate their integration with the broad array of other available earth science parameters. EarthChem is operated by a joint team of disciplinary scientists, data scientists, data managers and information technology developers who are part of the NSF-funded data facility Integrated Earth Data Applications (IEDA). IEDA is a collaborative effort of EarthChem and the Marine Geoscience Data System (MGDS).